So said my dad (yes, the Jeopar-daddy!) when he answered this clue right in Ballet, and I missed it (misread it, actually): “In 1877, ‘Swan Lake’ premiered at the Bolshoi theatre in this city with choreography by Julius Reisinger.”*
Today, Mike Hodel returned to hopefully prove his mettle after yesterday‘s narrow escape with the win. His opponents were Alli Johnson and Brad Rodriguez. I was excited right away about today’s categories, which seemed to suit both my mom (Building a Recipe) and my dad (Hello, I’m Johnny Cash). (Incidentally, I have to give them both props for being so patient with me while I paused and rewinded in a surely-annoying manner.) And of course, I like crossword puzzles and thus the category Crossword Clues “C.” Why did Mr. Trebek give such a lengthy explanation of the category? It’s not like we haven’t seen that one before on the show.
And two “why”s regarding this second clue of the game in Shakespeare’s Settings: “This happy play is set in Athens and a nearby wood where fairies cast their spells.”* Why did Alli screw up the title when she said it correctly in response to the previous clue? And why didn’t either of the guys get that question right when she said it wrong? The next clue was the Daily Double of the round, and the scores were not pretty: Mike had 0, Alli had -400, and Brad had -200. Alli wagered 600 on this clue, still in Shakespeare’s Settings: “The courtyard of Inverness is the setting for Act I, Scene vii of this masterpiece.”* She got it right.
Did you guys know this triple-stumper in Building a Recipe?: “Before baking, I’m brushing olive oil on our puff pastries described by this 10-letter term, as they lack yeast.”*
At the end of the round, Mike had 5200, Alli had 7000, and Brad had 3000. Here’s a triple-stumper from the Double Jeopardy round, in Ballet: “In the ballet ‘Petrouchka,’ the ballerina is one of these doll-like toys, as is Petrouchka himself.”* And another, in French Cities? that I got in the nick of time (I love triple-stumpers when I answer them correctly!): “Multiple episodes of military service in a war zone, population 137,000.”*
At the end of the Double Jeopardy round, Mike had 10800, Alli had 9000, and Brad had 12400. The final category was Bestselling Authors, which prompted my dad to cry something like, “Hey, my new book is out!”, meaning in his workplace’s bookstore. It’s a chemistry textbook that he doesn’t mind me telling you is available on both amazon.com and bn.com! He’s got a bunch of ’em, actually.
Anyway, the final clue was a toughie: “Since coming on the beat, he’s had more N.Y. Times bestsellers than any other author, including over 20 in the last 5 years.”* Alli was wrong and lost everything but a dollar. Mike was right (redemption!), and added 7300. Brad was wrong and lost 9201, making Mike your winner for the second time.
Tomorrow, I expect to be able to watch the Saturday evening Jeopardy! with the fam, so watch the show and come back here and see what happens!
*Moscow, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, unleavened, puppet, Tours, James Patterson